South Korea on Thursday formally offered North Korea talks on suspended operations at their joint Kaesong industrial zone, and hinted it might pull out entirely if Pyongyang declines.

The South said it was offering working-level talks to resolve the impasse over Kaesong, a rare symbol of inter-Korean cooperation that has become the most notable victim of escalating military tensions on the Korean peninsula.

The United States voiced hope Wednesday for a "productive" relationship with Venezuela as it welcomed the appointment of a new envoy to Washington by the successor of leftist leader Hugo Chavez.

President Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday named ruling lawmaker Calixto Ortega as the charge d'affaires at the embassy in Washington after the United States clarified that it was not seeking sanctions over Venezuela's disputed election.

Food, water and medical aid has reached thousands of people displaced by fighting in southern Darfur in Sudan, peacekeepers said on Wednesday, after the U.N. chief expressed concern over restrictions on access.

Almost 80 tonnes of "critical humanitarian aid" will assist needy civilians in Labado and Muhagiriya, said the African Union-U.N. peacekeeping mission (UNAMID) which delivered the supplies from United Nations agencies.

Separatist Tuareg rebels in Mali on Wednesday refused to disarm or take part in elections planned for July until negotiations have taken place with Bamako.

"The disarmament of the MNLA (the Tuareg's National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad) is out of the question. Have you ever seen a group disarm without negotiations?" Paris-based spokesman Mahamadou Djeri Maiga told a press conference.

South Africa's president and his deputy contradicted each other on Wednesday on plans to re-deploy troops to the troubled Central African Republic, where 13 South African soldiers were lost last month.

President Jacob Zuma said that a summit of the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) he attended in Chad had verbally requested him to resend soldiers.

Peace icon Desmond Tutu checked into a South African hospital on Wednesday for non-surgical treatment and tests related to an ongoing infection.

"Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu has checked into a Cape Town hospital for the treatment of a persistent infection and to undergo tests to discover the underlying cause," his foundation said in a statement.

Dutch officials pulled armed police from secondary schools in the western city of Leiden on Wednesday as they lowered the level of an alert over an online threat to carry out a school shooting.

The threat to "shoot my Dutch teacher and as many students as I can" made on a U.S.-based website over the weekend led to all secondary schools in the university city being closed on Monday and police being deployed.

The Catholic Church in Belgium on Wednesday angrily denounced Femen topless protesters who targeted its primate at a conference though the archbishop himself remained composed and apparently at prayer throughout.

The four protesters leaped out of their seats at a debate on blasphemy and freedom of expression held at the Brussels' Free University (ULB) campus Tuesday evening, baring their breasts and squirting water at Archbishop Andre Leonard as they accused him of homophobia.

Israel's President Shimon Peres is to meet Pope Francis on a three-day visit to Italy that will begin on Monday, an official statement said.

The Israeli president is also set to visit the city of Assisi, birthplace of Saint Francis of Assisi, after whom the new pontiff -- Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina -- chose his name.

Dozens of people gathered in Istanbul to commemorate the 1915 Armenian genocide Wednesday, in what they saw as a sign of an increasingly conciliatory stance by the government.

For the first time, Armenian diaspora groups from Europe also attended the ceremony at the invitation of the Turkish government.